Student Post: Oh the badger’s life is the life for me.

A friend of mine has a badger preoccupation. It was his expertise I consulted for last week’s blurb on badger culling. Between speaking with him and trying to plan a mad dash to Madison for its famous Halloween party, I’ve had badgers on the brain all week, so for this week’s post, I decided to couple “badger” and “neurobiology” in a literature search.

I found a delightful 2001 article on “Daily Activity Budgets of the Taiwan Ferret Badger (Melogale moschata subaurantiaca) in Captivity” by Kurtis Jai-Chyi Pei. It turns out ferret badgers spend most of their awake time traveling about followed by eating, drinking, playing and “staying alert.” But don’t give a ferret badger cause to think unfavorably upon you. The article goes on the describe how “…the noxious anal secretion is the most apparent weapon of the ferret badger.” This works best on mammals; apparently if you’re a bird of prey it isn’t so bad.

The point is… I want to be a ferret badger. Besides avoiding predation and competing for mates etc., it sounds like my kind of fun. We humans do too many activities that make us unhappy. I mean, what would a badger analysis of my activity budget look like?

Individual spends 33% sleeping, 15% eating/drink, 5% feigning disinterest in prospective mates, 5% time running in place, inordinate amount of time depleting natural resources, and somewhat less time complaining about the depletion of natural resources. For the remainder of active time, individual toils at some task or another the direct benefit of which is not apparent at this time. There is a curious lack of play exhibited– a behavior that has myriad benefits (Bandit and Thumper, 1996).

I think one of these days I’m going to relax and have myself a ferret badger day. If anyone nags me…POW. I’ll hit ’em with the noxious secretions.

Homeosis or atavism?

This is pretty nifty: it’s a nine-tentacled octopus. Count ’em!

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If I may be so bold as to remind you all of the basics of cephalopod development and evolution, the primitive condition in cephalopods is to form ten arms; in the octopods, one pair is secondarily lost by some unidentified suppression in development. It’s not too surprising that there would be some low frequency of re-expression of members of the fifth and normally missing pair — and the article mentions that the Akashi Seafood Council reports that they see this once in every 20 years or so.

They should keep an eye open for these kinds of developmental abnormalities — they can be an indicator of stressors in the environment if the frequency starts to rise.

Yicaris dianensis

Blogging on Peer-Reviewed Research

Early Cambrian shrimp! I just had to share this pretty little fellow, a newly described eucrustacean from the lower Cambrian, about 525 million years ago. It’s small — the larva here is about 1.8mm long, and the adults are thought to have been 3mm long — but it was probably numerous, and I like to imagine clouds of these small arthropods swarming in ancient seas.

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The head limbs are drawn in median view and the trunk limbs in lateral view.

[Read more…]

Cephalopod Awareness Day Alert #4

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One last compendium, I think, unless I find unusually large quantities of Cephalopod Awareness links in my mailbox tomorrow.

Cephalopod Awareness Day Alert #3

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More cephalopods are being celebrated everywhere. Send me more!

Cephalopod Awareness Day Alert #2

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We have another round of cephalopodic loveliness. Send me more!

  • Chris Clarke contemplates the word “sepia”.

  • Why chiropractors shouldn’t mess around with invertebrates.

  • Kevin submits the ubiquitous octopus vs. shark movie.

  • How can something so cute be angry? (Oh, man, I hear that one all the time.)

  • Poulperia. I think it’s a variant on Santeria.

  • Roger Burnham sends us some movies: Caribbean Reef Squid 001, Caribbean Reef Squid 002, and Common Octopus 001

  • Octopuppy. It’s art!

  • More cephalopoetry, from the Cuttlefish Poet:

    A Cuttlefish Limerick or Three

    The cuttlefish: Squid-like, you think?
    Just a cephalopod in the drink?
    Then you also should know it
    Refers to a poet,
    Or any who hide in their ink.

    For writers who think that they’re odd
    And ignored, by indifferent God,
    Don’t allow yourself–perish
    The thought, and just cherish
    Your label of “Cephalopod”

    For today, there will be no rebuttal–
    We will celebrate, loud and unsubtle!
    Just the same as each squid
    And each octopus did,
    We’ll shake all of our legs, and our cuttle!

    A Cuttlefish Double-Dactyl

    Inkily, thinkily,
    Deepwater cuttlefish
    Hide in their ink (to a
    Poet, that’s odd)

    Writing, you see, is not
    Characteristically
    Part of the life of a
    Cephalopod.

    the classic Ogden Nash–

    THE OCTOPUS

    Tell me, O Octopus, I begs
    Is those things arms, or is they legs?
    I marvel at thee, Octopus;
    If I were thou, I’d call me Us.)

Cephalopod Awareness Day Alert #1

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Here’s the first volley of cephalopod recognition posts I’ve received. Do send me more, and I’ll put them up later. Do me a favor and put “Cephalopod Awareness” in your subject line so I can sort them out more easily.